The property’s new owner is aiming to break ground in the coming weeks, and, according to City Hall, already received zoning sign-offs from municipal staff with no public hearing required. “This is major construction. Residents are not happy. They’re worried about environmental issues, the air quality, flooding, parking, the amount of people that will be there,” Herron said Monday. The rare zone change Testa obtained in 2013 laid the groundwork. The land at 1775 Madison Ave. had for decades been the site of restaurants and there were tight restrictions on what could be constructed there. Testa was granted an ORG (office, retail, general) designation, which his attorney at the time, Charles Willinger, claimed was necessary for his client to pursue refinancing and was not a prelude to a sale and redevelopment of the site. Jump ahead to late 2021. Bridgeport, following a broad public-engagement effort, had just updated its ten-year master plan of development and the related city-wide changes to zoning regulations were set to take affect Jan. 1, 2022.
https://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/article/bridgeport-approves-177-unit-apartment-complex-18065518.php